Nanoscience and technology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensitivity-dependent data analysis methods disrupted the development of artificial olfactory technologies. Here, authors present a data-centric artificial olfactory system based on eigengraph that reflects the intrinsic electrochemical interaction.

    • Seung-Hyun Sung
    • , Jun Min Suh
    •  & Seong Chan Jun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge-to-spin conversion allows for the generation and control of spin polarization via a charge current. Typically, this is done with non-magnetic materials with large spin-orbit interactions such as Platinum. Herein, Dai et al demonstrate an intriguing charge-to-spin mechanism, a magnetic spin Hall effect, in a van der Waals heterostructure.

    • Yudi Dai
    • , Junlin Xiong
    •  & Feng Miao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D vertical transport transistors (VTFETs) may promote the downscaling of electronic devices, but their performance is usually restricted by the thermionic limit. Here, the authors report the realization of short-channel steep-slope VTFETs based on MoS2/MoTe2 heterojunctions integrated with resistance threshold switching cells.

    • Qiyu Yang
    • , Zheng-Dong Luo
    •  & Genquan Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crack formation typically results in random patterns and material failure. Inspired by plant phototropism, the authors use plasmonic absorbers to control crack propagation in colloidal films with light, showcasing a robust, programmable self-assembly process.

    • Fanny Thorimbert
    • , Mateusz Odziomek
    •  & Marco Faustini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Elemental immiscibility limits the development of solid solution materials. Here, authors create a nonequilibrium flame aerosol method to mix nearly any pair of metal elements in a single-phase nano-ceramic. Also, an exsolution behavior is presented to produce active and stable nanoparticles.

    • Shuo Liu
    • , Chaochao Dun
    •  & Mark T. Swihart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The apparent electronic confinement at nanographene boundaries in scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy is often misinterpreted. Here, the authors explain this phenomenon in terms of the decay of frontier orbitals and confinement at the edges of graphene nanoribbons and pores in nanoporous graphene.

    • Ignacio Piquero-Zulaica
    • , Eduardo Corral-Rascón
    •  & Johannes V. Barth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By coupling a spin-qubit to a superconducting resonator, remote spin-entanglement becomes feasible. Here, Ungerer et al achieve strong coupling between a superconducting resonator and a singlet-triplet spin qubit, in an InAs nanowire.

    • J. H. Ungerer
    • , A. Pally
    •  & C. Schönenberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly polarized nuclear spins can supress decoherence of electron spin qubits, but this requires near-unity polarization. Here the authors implement a protocol combining optical excitation and fast carrier tunnelling to achieve nuclear spin polarizations above 95% in GaAs quantum dots on a timescale of 1 minute.

    • Peter Millington-Hotze
    • , Harry E. Dyte
    •  & Evgeny A. Chekhovich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial spin ices are nanomagnetic metamaterials, whose collective magnetization self-organizes into extended domains. However, controlling when, where and how domains change has proven difficult, yet is crucial for technological applications. Here, Jensen and Strømberg et al. introduce astroid clocking, which enables controlled, stepwise growth and reversal of magnetic domains, using only global fields.

    • Johannes H. Jensen
    • , Anders Strømberg
    •  & Erik Folven

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exceptional points emerge in systems with loss and gain when loss and gain in the system are balanced. Due to the careful balancing involved, they are highly sensitive to perturbations, making them exceptionally useful for sensors and other devices. Here, Wittrock et al observe a variety of complex dynamics associated with exceptional points in coupled spintronic nano-oscillators.

    • Steffen Wittrock
    • , Salvatore Perna
    •  & Vincent Cros

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoreactors, with biomimetic features and distinct catalytic functions, show promise in catalytic energy conversion. Here the authors propose the utilization of precisely engineered mesoporous carbon spheres with tunable hollow sizes as nanoreactors, leveraging their catalytic functionalities for enhanced diffusion and microenvironment modulation effects to achieve efficient hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis.

    • Qiang Tian
    • , Lingyan Jing
    •  & Jinlong Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of Pd-based material during CO2 electroreduction requires further investigation. Here the authors use in-situ liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy and select area diffraction characterization techniques to visualize the morphological and phase structure evolution of the Pd/PdHx catalysts under CO2 electroreduction conditions.

    • Ahmed M. Abdellah
    • , Fatma Ismail
    •  & Drew Higgins

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In-situ cryo-electron microscopy in thin amorphous ice films and ice-dynamics simulations reveal polymorph-dependent growth kinetics of nanoscale ice crystals. Hetero-crystalline ice exhibits anisotropic growth: fast-growing facets are associated with low-density interfaces, driving tetrahedral ordering of interfacial H2O molecules and accelerating ice growth.

    • Minyoung Lee
    • , Sang Yup Lee
    •  & Dong June Ahn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three-dimensional DNA origami constructs can be used to deliver vaccine antigens in a multi-valent form. Here the authors design a DNA origami system for SARS-CoV-2 proteins and characterize in mice the immune response and protective capacity of generated antibodies, finding that the construct itself is not immunogenic.

    • Eike-Christian Wamhoff
    • , Larance Ronsard
    •  & Mark Bathe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving genetic circuits on single DNA molecules could have varied applications. Here, authors observed proteins emerging from single DNA molecules through coupled transcription-translation complexes, and show that nascent proteins lingered on DNA, regulating cascaded reactions on the same DNA and allowing the design of a pulsatile genetic circuit.

    • Ferdinand Greiss
    • , Nicolas Lardon
    •  & Roy Bar-Ziv

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inexpensive iron catalysts often exhibit low activity in ammonia decomposition due to a strong iron-nitrogen binding energy. Here the authors demonstrate that combining iron with cobalt to form a Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst overcomes this limitation, presenting a promising solution for enhancing ammonia decomposition efficiency.

    • Shilong Chen
    • , Jelena Jelic
    •  & Malte Behrens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Different approaches have been described for the transdermal delivery of drugs. Here the authors report the design of a fluorocarbon modified chitosan-based non-invasive transdermal platform for the delivery of biomacromolecules, such as viral antigens for vaccines or immune checkpoint inhibitors for melanoma immunotherapy.

    • Wenjun Zhu
    • , Ting Wei
    •  & Zhuang Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gate-type field emission cathodes based on carbon nanotubes face challenges of achieving high E-beam transmittance to avoid the collision with the gate to form irreversible damages. Here, the authors present a self-charging gate to control the E-beam trajectory by inducing a local electric field.

    • Dongyang Xiao
    • , Huanhuan Du
    •  & Peiyi Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The selective oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane is attracting increasing attention as a method for ethylene production. Here, PdZn supported on ZnO affords record-breaking photocatalytic ethane-to-ethylene conversion rate, emphasizing the pivotal role of the interface between PdZn and ZnO in the process.

    • Pu Wang
    • , Xingyu Zhang
    •  & Tierui Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing neuromorphic hardware, focusing mainly on shallow-reservoir computing, is challenged in providing adequate spatial and temporal scales characteristic for effective computing. Here, Gao et al. report an ultra-short channel organic neuromorphic vertical transistor with distributed reservoir states.

    • Changsong Gao
    • , Di Liu
    •  & Huipeng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report a study of the structural properties of intercalated alkali metals in bilayer graphene and graphite via low-voltage scanning transmission electron microscopy, providing mechanistic insights for the development of energy storage applications.

    • Yung-Chang Lin
    • , Rika Matsumoto
    •  & Kazu Suenaga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    L. Rocchino et al. experimentally demonstrate a magnetic field effect transistor based on the Weyl semimetal NbP as the active channel material. A gate magnetic field is generated by current flowing in an integrated superconductor NbN. The device operation relies on the extreme magnetoresistance of the NbP.

    • Lorenzo Rocchino
    • , Federico Balduini
    •  & Cezar B. Zota

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Progress has been made in the development of low-loss monocrystalline plasmonic metals, opening up opportunities for ultrathin nanophotonic architectures. Here, the authors reveal differences in hot-electron thermalisation dynamics between ultrathin monocrystalline and polycrystalline gold films.

    • Can O. Karaman
    • , Anton Yu. Bykov
    •  & Anatoly V. Zayats

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanical dysregulation of cells is associated with several diseases and strategies to deliver drugs based on the “mechanical phenotype” of a cell are desirable. Here, the authors design and characterize DNA mechanocapsules comprised of DNA tetrahedrons that are force responsive, and showed they can encapsulate macromolecular cargo and release it upon application of force.

    • Arventh Velusamy
    • , Radhika Sharma
    •  & Khalid Salaita

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent studies have reported miniaturized spectrometers based on van der Waals heterostructures. Here, the authors demonstrate multifunctional SnS2/ReSe2 heterojunction spectrometers providing photodetection, spectrum reconstruction, spectral imaging, long-term image memory, and signal processing capabilities.

    • Gang Wu
    • , Mohamed Abid
    •  & Han-Chun Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional sequence-controlled copolymerization often suffers from strict requirements on reaction kinetics of comonomer pairs and tedious synthetic processes. Here, the authors demonstrate a sequence-controlled alternating copolymerization with molecular precision on a Ag(111) surface under thermodynamic control of the polymerization selectivity.

    • Lingbo Xing
    • , Jie Li
    •  & Kai Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum devices exhibiting non-reciprocal behaviour have been attracting attention for fundamental studies and applications. Here the authors report a microwave quantum diode based on a superconducting flux qubit coupled to two resonators, which has the advantage of compactness and scalability.

    • Rishabh Upadhyay
    • , Dmitry S. Golubev
    •  & Jukka P. Pekola

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report a high-performance broadband spectrometer based on a van der Waals heterostructure tunnel diode containing MoS2 and and black phosphorus, leveraging their electrically tunable photoresponse and advanced computational algorithms for spectral reconstruction.

    • Md Gius Uddin
    • , Susobhan Das
    •  & Zhipei Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Twisted bilayers of 2D semiconductors are being intensively investigated due to their emergent physical properties, but their controlled bottom-up synthesis remains challenging. Here, the authors report a confined-space chemical vapour deposition strategy to synthesize MoS2 bilayers with twist angles ranging from 0° to 120°.

    • Manzhang Xu
    • , Hongjia Ji
    •  & Wei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inter-fullerene conjugates are non-naturally occurring carbon allotropes. Here the authors report on the chemical synthesis and solid-state structure of three inter-[60]fullerene hybrids with inherent chirality.

    • Yoshifumi Hashikawa
    • , Shu Okamoto
    •  & Yasujiro Murata

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic neural implants hold considerable promise for biocompatible neural interfaces. Here, the authors employ polymer-based organic electrochemical diodes and transistors to develop neuron-sized complex circuits, enabling multiplexing without crosstalk and demonstrate that, when integrated onto ultra-thin plastic, these circuits achieve high performance while maintaining minimal invasiveness.

    • Ilke Uguz
    • , David Ohayon
    •  & Kenneth L. Shepard

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